Tag Archives: bayonetta

I’ve been kicking this thought around from time to time, wondering to myself if the Brawler genre truly died. It was one of the grand staples of the 90s arcade scene with games like Final Fight, Streets of Rage, the D&D brawlers, and Double Dragon. In the jump to 3D, these games stuck around, but didn’t quite have the lasting appeal of its predecessors. Games like Die Hard Arcade and Fighting Force tried to fill the void, but it looked like the genre was on its way out. Or at least that’s that some in the media and community had proclaimed when less and less of these types of games were being released both at home and in the arcades. When games like The Warriors and Viewtiful Joe were released in the early and mid 2000s, some would even say that these games had revitalized the genre. But was there anything to really revive? Simple answer really: No. In fact, the genre was alive and well, it just took on a different name.

The Japanese launch of Anarchy Reigns (Max Anarchy in Japan) is close by, so here’s a launch trailer for it. I have a feeling this trailer is going to be the same when the game is released here, considering SEGA hasn’t done much in advertising the game. I mean sure they’ve got character trailers in English (lots of ’em), but they haven’t done much pushing to other outlets to show these trailers. Anarchy Reigns is a beat ’em up that looks poised to be a very, very distant spiritual successor to Power Stone (and of course the sequel to MadWorld). You got special moves, environmental hazards and items, etc. The game’s main focus is online with many modes to be had. There’s Tag Team DeathMatch, Cage Match, Capture The Flag, Survival, Death Ball, and more. But I can definitely see a lot of people frequenting Battle Royale, a 16-player Deathmatch mode that’s bound to be chaotic. Bayonetta is also included in the game.

But for those that prefer to play alone, the game’s also got a story mode, but not much is known about what the plot will be about, nor if it’ll only follow just Jack Cayman or follow everyone. There’s still no word on local multiplayer (considering the previous game, MadWorld, had it on the Wii). Anarchy Reigns is slated for release in the U.S. on July 3rd, with Austalia and Europe getting the game July 5th and 6th respectively.

The man behind Kid Icarus Uprising and the Smash Bros. series was caught entering Platinum Games offices not too long ago. No one knows for certain what exactly he was doing in there. All he did do was share a picture of Platinum Games’ sign. Noting out of the ordinary. But why am I bringing up Star Fox? Well back in 2010, Platinum’s Hideki Kamiya, the creator of Bayonetta, said in a twitter post that he wanted “someone from Nintendo to come to Platinum, point a gun and say, ‘You people make the the new Star Fox game.'” Kamiya is still as Platinum, and Sakurai is from Nintendo. Nothing has come of this, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Maybe E3 perhaps?

News of SEGA’s restructuring seems to be getting worse as now there’s rumors that the restructuring is also hitting Platinum Games’ titles. According to SPOnG, someone “…familiar with the situation has told SPOnG that progress on the apparent Platinum Games sequel was halted.” The source goes on to state that the game was to have new characters in the game. So far this seems to only affect any Platinum Games titles that SEGA has published, like Bayonetta, Vanquish, and MadWorld. So any other excursions Platinum has, like Metal Gear Rising, are still okay. This does however put MadWorld sequel Anarchy Reigns in a rather sticky spot. While the game looks close to finished and ready for launch, it puts the game in a situation where it’ll probably make it or break it for SEGA’s partnership with Platinum Games. Platinum, for a while, seem to have more hits than misses. Sure their games do well with critics, but the sales numbers, save for Bayonetta (which boggles the mind even more) seem to underperfom. If these problems continue, it won’t be long before we see Platinum left to fend for themselves. Hopefully, they won’t suffer the same fate as their previous entity.